Claimed
by TheWalkingCaryl
Summary: He had been with Joe's group for a week now, he had only claimed one thing for himself in all of that time, and more than anything it was to show that he was a willing participant in this life. He would adjust to their rules to survive with this new group, because this group might be all that he ever finds again. Caryl
1. The Claim

I'm back with Story #2 for the site. This one will be a multi-chapter. It follows the show up until 4x11 and then veers off into it's own story. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to take it one of two routes. One will include tie ins with Terminus, the other is not circled around a specific part of the show really. We'll see how the feeling out of the story goes. Obviously it's Caryl.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. This is purely for a poor fangirls heart.

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><p>He had been with Joe's group for a week now, he had only claimed one thing for himself in all of that time, and more than anything it was to show that he was a willing participant in this life. He would adjust to their rules to survive with this new group, because this group might be all that he ever finds again. He had given way to hopelessness when his last connection to his group was carried away in a car he had never had any hope of reaching or tracking, no matter how hard he had lied to himself to keep moving. That was all the chase ever was. If he was moving forward, he would continue to breathe. In this world, Daryl Dixon was a master survivor and as much as it pained him to adapt to a group of men that was a monumental step back in his own personal character development, he would. He had to.<p>

His crossbow dug into his shoulder, leaving a definite bruise from the loose way it bounced against him as they crossed the rough terrain. He hadn't spoken anymore than he had to since he joined up. He got glares and bumps and sneers and the likes from the others, but he'd just taken to hunting more and allowing each of them to claim the game he brought back to wherever camp was set up. He was the newest member and knew he was seen as the weakest by the men he traveled with - but he followed their rules and he carved himself out a place with them. He might not be a valued member of the group, but at least he felt now that most of these men at least saw him as a member. He kept them eating every night, that would have to be enough.

The sound of the creak up ahead of them was welcome, he felt his hand inching towards the empty water bottle shoved in one of his pockets, he would get a good drink and then refill it for the trek still ahead. His hand tightened on the bottle, hearing the cheaply manufactured plastic crinkle loudly in the silence of the early evening around them. His gaze lifted to see Joe lift up a hand, pulling out his weapon and Daryl noticed the light noise of disturbance that Joe must have picked up on. Something was walking through the water. A walker maybe? Obviously a shambler with nowhere in particular to go, because it wasn't really a sloppy sounding walk. Daryl twisted the crossbow from his shoulder up to his arm, walking closer to the noise, falling silent with the group so that they could access the situation.

He heard the hairpin curl of Joe's lips, rather than seeing it, he couldn't turn towards any of the men he was standing with, scattered through the treeline before the slight hill drop that lead to that cutting stream. His heart stopped beating and grasp tightened on the crossbow, finger touching the trigger, ready to pull it if he had to.

"Well lo-" Joe was going to marvel quietly to his group. Maybe even loud enough to garner attention. But he wouldn't be able to finish. It had to be done quickly so Daryl didn't even glance in their direction as he stepped out of the treeline towards the stream more.

"Claimed." His voice gruff and territorial, finger still poised and ready on that trigger should anyone try to challenge Joe's law and his claim. It was loud enough so that no one could argue that they didn't hear it. It was almost a yell. And it certainly got her attention as her head snapped up, causing her to pull the shirt she had been washing in the stream tightly against her chest.

"Atta boy." Joe nodded, amidst all of the groanings heard from the men around him. Women were a hot commodity in this world, and Daryl seemed to recognize that as well. He couldn't help but bristle with pride at his first big claim, even if he was a bit disappointed that the scrappy looking little woman was now off-limits to himself as well.

"Daryl." It was barely a breath as her gaze shot up to the men standing a ways off behind him, feeling his fingers dig into her side and start to draw her forwardd towards himself in a very territorial stance. It made her pulse race.

"The hell you doin'? Get your shirt on." Despite his words, the relief in his tone is paramount and his grasp is as desperate as ever. She pulled on her top and his arm wound about her waist, drawing her up tight against his chest, and for the benefit of the men drooling like a pack of wild dogs behind him - he claimed her a second time. This time his lips locked tightly against hers, rough and hot and all-consuming.

It made Carol's knees go weak


	2. Slippery Slope

**_Chapter Two is ready. I noticed a lot of issues in my first chapter, and it should have taught me to finish and post with only a late night read-through, but I really just wanted to get another chapter out quickly. I do have someone set up who is supposed to read for a second pair of eyes, but I'm going to go ahead and say she'll start on the next chapter. _**

**_Thank you for the follows and the reviews! It truly helps to encourage me to keep writing. Of course I have a basic idea of where we are going here, but any suggestions or requests for something you would like to see are welcome in reviews. And anything you feel you need to call me out on, I'm not perfect, but I'm trying. :) (Like how I claimed that spoilers were up to 4x11, when really we're talking more about the first part of 4x15 here. My bad)_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the show, the characters, or sadly - Norman Reedus. _**

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><p><em>"Don't speak, don't look at them. Just stay close to me. We'll sleep in shifts when we stop. You don't want to think about what these men will do to you if they get you away from me."<em>

Carol's feet fell quietly over the forest floor, her wrist caught in Daryl's fingers. He had made it clear that there wouldn't be threading of fingers or chatty catch up sessions. They weren't safe here as themselves, she wasn't safe here if Daryl wasn't one of them. She's tried her best to hold back the looks of disgust and to quell the fears as the men in the group kept approaching Daryl and making offers of things he could have if they could 'borrow' her. Every curse he threw their way in response gained him more murderous glares his way and Carol wondered if maybe Daryl wasn't all that safe here if she was 'his' either. But she wasn't to speak at all. She wasn't to show that there was a past or a mutual care at all between them. She had to just silently follow along.

His kiss still burned against her lips, his words still hot breaths against her ear as he gave her as much of the story as he could, under the guise of running his hands up and down and all over his claim - over the clothes of course - to feel her over and take in everything. The men who were watching them, edging closer to get a better look at the whole scene kept it from turning her on at all, instead the memory of it sent shivers down her spine and she just wanted to burrow down in Daryl's chest and have him comfort her. There were a whole lot of Eds in this group, and even if she knew she was stronger and would be able to stand up for herself against a man like that - she knew she couldn't stand up for herself against a group of men like that.

These are fears that she could not speak to Daryl, but as they stopped for camp and she felt him pulling her body to rest in front of himself, pressed tightly against his chest, his arms pinning her protectively against himself, she knew that she didn't have to speak them. Those were the same thoughts running through his own head. And then some above and beyond that. He actually knew these men and the fear of what they could do to her had him acting like this - afraid of them enough to treat her in ways that she could tell made him sick to his stomach. It was all an act and she knew it, but that didn't make the show any easier to put on.

He could feel the tremble in her body as he pulled her close and his gaze scans through the garage, waiting for everyone to claim a space before moving to a spot as far away from the rest as he could and claiming it for them, shifting there to drop his bag there next to the wall and nods down there to the floor for her. "Sit" Letting go and making it seem like that gentle nudge towards the wall was more of a shove. She took the cue and allowed herself a slight stumble, catching herself on the wall and then letting her back hit the wall, slowly sliding down there, looking around at the group, slowly moving to hug her knees against her chest tightly.

He had his chance to leave. He should have left this group awhile ago, went off on his own and kept walking. Maybe he could have found her safely away from them. He could have met up with her, and they would be working together to find the rest of their group too. If he had been willing to spend that little bit of time alone, he could be relieved to see her now, and not terrified to take his eyes off of her. He had seen these men at what he feared was not any of their worsts and the way that the group as a whole looked at her - it sent shivers down his spine. Maybe if he'd left she would be fine.

_Or maybe she would be stuck with them alone._

The thought makes him shudder, causes his body to tense further and he bends towards her there. For better or for worse, he didn't leave and now they are both here.

His hand catches her elbow there as he studies over her face, a bit more worn even than the last time that he saw her at the prison before he left for that run and Rick had taken her out and left her behind. Did she even know about the prison? Did she know that all of the people that they cared about were either gone, or out there, fending for themselves against the hardships of this world? There were so many questions that he wanted to ask of her, but none that were safe to speak aloud here. Daryl had never considered an omission a lie before, but he was thinking that any little loophole they could find and use to as an excuse to give him a beating would be caught and used instantly. These men were looking for a reason to take him down and take his claim. The only claim that mattered.

"C'mere." His own back hit the wall, tugging her around there, feeling the way that her leg slipped about to straddle him instantly, falling into the role he needs her to play. She adapts and survives, and he marvels at how seamless it all has felt along the way. It is a terrifying predicament that they have found themselves in for sure, but if there were anyone he would trust to survive it with him, it was Carol. His head dipped down low, mouth falling against the hollow of her throat, his eyes always trained behind her, watching the eyes that flickered. Catching the eyes that didn't even bother to glance away, and holding them, memorizing them as the ones to watch. They were the first waves of the real threats.

His scruff rubbed against her throat, sandpaper against tissue paper. She felt his lips as they moved against her skin with a purpose. Not the purpose that prying eyes called out for hungrily - but a true one.

_Safe._

His lips moved over the word several times there, painting it onto her skin with the repetition. The very real danger around them didn't matter, it couldn't, because Daryl Dixon marked her as safe. Though she wondered, as she felt the atmosphere building up behind them rise to this new level, who was going to mark him? Her hands moved to his sides, grasping his arms, fingernails dipping into the skin a bit in that moment, deep and desperate. Marks of safety marring his skin a bit as he painted promises over her throat.

His eyes sweep the room and fall on Joe, standing there in the corner, chewing on a piece of jerky that had been stashed in his bag, watching them in much the same way as a hunter would watch a set trap. He wasn't watching for a show, or to quell some sick desire - Joe was watching them for the details. If there was a story to be told, Joe was going to find it. Were they set the right way? Did they move the way that they would be expected to move? Were they worth his time, or just a risk sitting out in the open here that was going to damage his group in the long run? Their lives were in the details.

This truly was a slippery slope.


	3. A Warning

Chapter 3. I am too impatient for my own good. I had someone read over the first few paragraphs, but I finished it this morning while she was at work and I wanted to get it up. I'll have to go back through and post edited versions of the chapters, all of these typos and grammar issues will drive me crazy on any read-backs. That said - the reviews have been great and I appreciate the people who like the story enough to follow it. Hopefully I do some justice to what you were looking for. As always, please enjoy and reviews help keep me motivated to write on, and adjust to what the readers would like to see, if directed.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or Daryl or Carol or Joe. I'm only not sad about one of those things.

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><p>Carol's back pressed against the bark of the tree she had crouched in front of, her knife clutched painfully tight in her fist as she sat completely motionless. Every ruffle of the leaves made her perk up a bit and watch from the corner of her eyes. Daryl was after a deer he had seen off of their little hunting path and they had silently agreed he had a better chance at it if he went it alone. Deer meat may just be enough to distract the hungry mouths waiting back at camp. Maybe.<p>

_Crunch._

Her thumb pressed against the back of the blade, allowing it to cause that slight indentation against her skin, leaving a thin red line there as she tensed her shoulder, pulling it back a bit, ready to strike out with a blow that would count if she had to. Daryl and his silent tenseness had instilled in her the importance of never lowering her guard here. They weren't safe, and she would need to ignore the relief of finding him again to remember that.

"I promise you, your life will continue if you keep that knife to yourself, Hunny." Joe's voice swept over the air, and for a gruff man, there was this sense of pseudo-warmth to it. It was something that Carol might have fallen for in the before, but now it stuck out like a sore thumb and raised the hairs on her neck. She watched him scoot down in front of her, the half smile on his lips. "I know it might seem a bit hypocritical and choosy of me, but I can't help it - grey's not really my thing." His large, calloused hand reached up to tug on the ends of her hair and she winced, remembering the reason she'd always cut it so short in the first place.

"They say a hole's a hole, but I ain't found that to be true in all a this time still. Besides, I'm a real stickler for rules, an I did make the rule Daryl followed to make you all his own." He shrugs there as he loosens his grasp and watches as her head snaps back a bit in response to finally being released from his touch. "Better learn to get along. Lookin' like Daryl wants to keep you around here for awhile."

Carol slowly lowered her eyes, trying to breathe. She just has to remember to breathe through the fears that threaten to overtake her. The way that this man says Daryl's name is kind of terrifying. It's possessive, in much the same way Ed would talk to her after a beating. Like he was training Daryl and he would take pride in any instance where the man reacted in the way that Joe expected of him. She swallowed back the bile rising in her throat at the thought of it all. The atmosphere was suffocating.

"Still - rules and all, Sweetheart-" He ticked his tongue, moving there a bit into her space and letting out a low chuckle as her knuckles clutching her knife turned white, amused by her recoil. "-you're gonna outwear those rules' welcome if I think you're hurtin' our boy's chance of survival out here. Kid's been messed up, devolving into the pussy society always expected people to be, but after society got what it was askin' for. Now I don't know if you were a part of the reason for that before, and I'm not here to find out, I'm just here to tell you that he's finally evolving back into the man he's gotta be. And Daryl over there just happens to be my favorite outdoor cat." Joe slowly pushed up to his feet, out of Carol's face and back a couple paces to signify that the moment was done. His point was made and she was sufficiently warned, given her own rule to live by.

The silence was deafening and she set her jaw, not even tensing at that slight crinkle of leaves that came next, slowly moving to set her knife down on her knees, closing her eyes tightly to avoid meeting his eyes.

"You alright?"

"You're not his pet, Daryl. You're not-"

"Gotta be." He kneels down there and softly moves his hand out, rolling his thumb over her temple softly. "I can handle it, Carol." His voice low as he sat against the tree, his leg pressing against hers tightly, feeling her there at his side, obviously still shaken from watching Joe confront her from the bushes. His finger hadn't left the trigger of his crossbow.

"We could leave."

"Nah. It'd be better, but we wouldn't make it. We leave them an' I won't be part of their group no more, I won't get a claim. They got a mission they're tryin' to see to, but they think they got a solid lead on where their guy is going to so - knowin' there's a... piece... out there-" Swallowing hard, wincing at his own words, his other hand moving to steady his crossbow in his arm. "-they'd detour to come find us."

"How long do you think they'll wait to turn on you?" Carol's hand reached out and softly covered the hand on top of the crossbow, trying to calm that slight tremble she could see in him. "Daryl..." Her voice trailed off as she leaned closer, her hand softly closing around his.

His head twisted towards hers instantly, his lips finding hers and this kiss was different than the ones before - the show put on for the Claimers to mark her as his own. This kiss was solid and certain. His mouth moved against hers in a planned and careful motion and she met it with a melting kiss of her own. Lips gliding together, gasps as his tongue pressed her lips to a part and took it a step deeper, looking for that connection in a new and tangible way. His side pressed to hers and slowly he felt her arm lifting to the side of his face, her body twisting to naturally throw her leg over his lap and her full form crushed up against him with a quiet moan. He held to the kiss for a lingering moment before he had to jerk his head back to break it. The floodgates had to be closed. For now.

"I ain't gonna let anything happen to you." His voice was quiet, but rough around the edges, there was a change in him and she saw it now more clearly that they were alone. "We're gonna be fine. We wait till they find this guy. Group like them - they take their time. We'll have our chance to get away then. We jus' gotta wait. Bide our time." His hand was working at the back of her neck a bit, this nervous, busy action that he didn't even realize he was making until he felt her lean back into it.

"I trust you, Daryl." Her hands softly framed his face before she leaned to press a soft kiss to his lips. "Your deer?"

"Lost it. Didn't want to waste more time looking for it. I had to get back to you." His eyes followed her as she moved to her feet, watching her hand as it reached down towards him, fingers wriggling a bit to encourage him to take her offered hand. A ghost of a smile crossed his face and he pulled himself up with her help. "You trust me?"

"Course I do, Pookie." Trying for a smile, she offered him a wink and then slipped her arm down so his fingers were holding her wrist instead. "We wait, and when you say jump, we jump. I got nothing but patience."


	4. Joe's Addendum

I can't help myself - this is going to be the longest week ever, and even though the plan was to post this chapter tomorrow, I needed to get out another. I'll try to crank out another one tomorrow evening if possible. Funny fact; Did you know that possibilities become probabilities with enough reviews? Just a little rumor I heard. ;)

In any case - Disclaimer: I don't own much of anything at all. TWD is no exception.

Enjoy!

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><p>Daryl's role was slipping, he knew it as he looked around the camp and saw the feast the other men were having. He hadn't gotten his hands on the deer that he had been tracking, but one of the others had been more patient than he was and brought back the kill to cook up. His arm protectively wound about Carol's waist, feeling her leaning back into him and wincing as he felt the rumble of her stomach under his arm. The smell was wafting through the air, and he was acutely aware of how delicious it would be to sink his teeth into the tender meat, but in no uncertain terms they had announced to him that 'if he weren't sharing, neither were they'. He could handle it, but feeling the evidence that it was causing Carol discomfort as well was maddening.<p>

His hand reached up to rub at his own temple, softly nudging Carol off of his lap, feeling that edge of a need to go out into the woods and get lost in the hunt again. He had to ward off these feelings of uselessness and a particular sense of captivity. He had to keep silently telling himself that it wasn't a forever situation, but he couldn't abandon her here. He may want to be alone for a few moments to build up a tougher skin, but he didn't want to be alone. Having Carol here with him the past few days with these men made him realize that even if they were people who lived by a code and he had rationalized that it was something, it really wasn't anything. Carol was everything and anything less wasn't worth the energy it took to survive.

"Dammit." He muttered, rolling his hand over the crossbow. "Gotta take a piss. C'mon."

Carol mused that his grasp was a bit rougher than it needed to be, and hated to see the guilt that clouded his eyes over when she couldn't contain that instinctual recoil her body had, but she tried to cover it by standing up and walking into the woods with him, practically pressed to his back.

"Where you takin' off?" One of the men - Harley - approached them, this perpetual smirk poised on his face there, a slab of meat held in his hands.

"Claimed." Daryl's glare and growl awoke something deep inside of Carol. He was practically feral and while she missed her walls and a sense of security, there was something about seeing him like this that had her biting her lip roughly and holding her arms tighter to herself to keep from lunging towards him.

The laugh broke into her thoughts and she stepped back further behind Daryl, despite the natural inclination to take the spot in front against this man who had no immediate plans of killing her, but definitely seemed to be working a thought out towards Daryl. "Yeah, yeah - you got her. You ain't _usin'_ her, but ya got her." His gaze panned down over Carol's body as well as he could from her position and it cooled off every inch that Daryl had just warmed up inside of her. "Hungry sweetheart?" He lifts the slab of meat held between his fingers, holding it out in her direction, and laughs at the instant answer her empty stomach calls out at him. "You gonna say no, Pussy?" Gaze up on Daryl. "Hate to have you starve her to death before anyone ever gets her screamin' again."

Carol wasn't hungry anymore.

"Shut up you son of a bitch!" Daryl pitched forwards to throw a punch at Harley's face, groaning as he side-stepped him and shoved on his back to cause him to stumble under the weight behind his own punch. Daryl quickly righted himself and twisted, looking at the man standing between he and Carol now, and seeing nothing but red. "Get. Away."

"Jus' trying to feed it." Wagging the slice of meat, amused at the rise he could pull. It'd been awhile since there was a really good fight and this man had been begging for one since he reluctantly joined up with them.

His second punch didn't miss. Or his third. After that, the punches weren't hard to land, since he was positioned there over Harley. He hadn't ever been much for fist fights, but the man had been planted in a dangerous position there and the anxieties and fears and adrenaline finally got to him and pushed him over the edge. He heard her scream his name, muffled by the sound of the blood pumping in his ears. His fists couldn't stop moving. Another time she screamed and then there was a blinding pain at the back of his head and he fell on top of Harley, twisting his body to get off of him, blinking as his vision went black around the edges, fading in and out as he tried to realize what had hit him, but there were two men standing there, looking ready for a brawl.

Billy and Dan began to advance, but stopped there, looking back up past him, and it took him awhile to focus himself there and finally pull his head out of that water to hear the sounds surrounding him again. The first sound was her - struggling to keep herself together, that strained and choked off sobbing sound he knew all too well, even if he hadn't heard it in some time.

"Carol-" His voice was a bit strained as he pushed himself to his knees, looking up and seeing Joe standing there, arm tightly wrapped about Carol, his gaze pointed down at the group there, disappointingly. "I-"

"When conflict arises, we have to address it. This world doesn't work if we don't use a set of rules that works for us all." He addressed the four men as if he were some kind of elected official, working out promises that will get him those all important re-election votes. Which means his aim is to please the majority, which doesn't include Carol and Daryl right now. "Now Daryl has his claim, and we've all seen what he's chosen to do with it." Nodding towards Carol. "Daryl's claim holds - she's his." His gaze landed on Daryl, watching his shoulders, and they never relaxed. "When we're done. Whoever wants a turn gets one."

Carol's eyes flew to Daryl there, wide and she stops breathing, shaking her head in protest, but she couldn't speak as Joe's fingers dug into her arm, offering her out to the rest of the group as a sort of peace offering. She heard Daryl struggling a bit to get to his feet, trying to get to her. She bit back her whimpers and shook her head, gaze searching him. Everyone is on high alert and if he fights them now, he'll lose for sure.

She felt herself be passed off from Joe to Billy there, the closest with his hands already reaching to grab at her, rough and hungry hands clamping down on her waist. Her mind slipped into panic mode and she wanted to push back and fight him, but he didn't seem to be concerned about taking this moment anywhere other than right here in front of them all.

"You get your-" Daryl was struggling to his feet, trying to move towards her and she saw Dan grabbing her as Harley pushed up to his feet, ready to sock the other man back, even though he stumbled a bit as he walked. Carol closed her eyes, looked away, and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"I found him!" The voice cut through the scene like a knife and caused heads to turn towards the forgotten member of the group. Tony ran into the clearing, not even questioning the site before him, just gesturing behind himself. "The guy who killed Lou. I found him. He's still on the trail, not two miles off."

Carol felt the hands leave her body and she began to breathe again, opening her eyes and stepping towards Daryl, moving into his waiting arm and sighing in relief as he crushed her tightly against himself, burrowing her head into his chest. She wasn't even listening as Joe gave marching orders and the group began to quickly pack up their belongings to go get a look at the man they've been hunting and figure out the suitable punishment for his crimes against them.

Finally Daryl stepped back enough to tug her in their corner of the garage to pack up their bag. They wouldn't be stalking off with the group towards this poor, unfortunate soul though. The call had been too close and Daryl was going to take her and get away from these people, as far as he possibly could.

His actions were still slow and a bit unsteady and so Carol took over the packing and slipped the pack up over her own shoulder, reaching out to steady him with a silent nod. The second the group began to follow Tony they would turn the other way and run, they just had to wait for the signal that it was time to go. Her head rested against his shoulder as she watched Joe keep barking out the orders, a few towards Daryl himself, before turning and starting the group out.

Neither of them noticed Harley stalking towards them angrily from behind.


	5. The Necessity

This chapter is short, significantly shorter than my other updates, but this moment felt like it had to be stand alone. I will try to get another chapter out tomorrow, but it will most likely be a couple days since tomorrow I have to attend a birthday party and I have to take time to really think on it. This is the turning point for them.

Reviews are appreciated greatly and help push the story forward.

Disclaimer: The Walking Dead, Daryl, Carol, the Georgia Woods... none of them are mine.

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><p>"Daryl!" She twisted around there, feeling him being ripped away from his spot beside her and her gaze fell on Harley. He wasted no time in starting the attack, taking advantage of Daryl's moment of shock to get in several punches. She watched the way his face contorted and the ugly marks left behind with each assault. She grabbed Harley's arm when she saw it moving towards his pocket, using all her night and leverage to throw him off. Every fiber of her being wanted to run to Daryl, but she moved forward and followed his assailant instead, her hand working out her knife.<p>

"You bit-" His words were cut off by her knife as she grabbed the back of his neck, pulled him close and shoved it up under his chin, straight up through into his brain. He went completely motionless and dropped as dead weight, pulling her along with him.

The blood pooled onto her hand and she looked down at her hand. It was so warm as it seeped over her skin and down her arm. She marveled now, as it was the first time she had killed a human up close. It made her stomach churn a bit, which felt strange. She was not squeamish by any means, and this man deserved to die, but being so close and actually being the one to do that felt strange. It took her a moment to brace herself and yank the knife back out, stumbling back onto the ground behind herself.

Daryl groaned slowly forcing his eyes to focus again, pushing to his feet. "Let..." Stopping short at the sight before him. "What did you do?" His eyes frantically following the path that would lead to Joe and the group, and lead them back here when they realized the three of them weren't there. It wouldn't be hard to figure out what had happened. His gaze slipped back down to Carol as she sat there, bloody hands on her knees as her chest heaved for breath. "Carol... What did you do?" Stumbling forward to get to her, falling to his knees at her side.

"I had to. He was - he almost killed you."

"You have to help me. I can't - walk well and we need to go now, in case they come back. They see what you done, and they'll kill you." His gaze up on her, the situation too urgent for him to beat around the bush or try to tough out the situation and stand on his own feet. They don't know how long Joe will keep trailing this guy without his full group to be a full powerhouse against their enemy.

"We - have to go." Repeated back at him with a nod and slowly she stashed her knife away once more, standing and reaching for him. They could spend time trying to hide the body, but the signs of the scuffle were too clear and there was no guarantee that they could get it well enough to mask the truth. If they could even clean up the scene before Joe returned. She slipped his arm over her shoulders and urged him to lean against her as she started off in the opposite direction of the group, lost without a direction but there weren't many options right now.

"Carol." His voice was so quiet that she wasn't certain if he had actually spoken at all, or if she had just imagined his voice filling the silence in between them. Her teeth worried her bottom lip there as she hummed a soft, questioning response. "Carol." His voice was a bit louder and more firm, demanding her attention and finally she sighed and glanced off towards him with a soft nod.

"Yeah?" She had screwed things up for them, knowing she couldn't stand against Harley in a fist fight, she had gone way too far and put them in danger and she knew this. That fact didn't make her feel ready to hear Daryl list out all the faults in her actions to her. Carol had only wanted to help, contribute to their safety the way Daryl had been protecting her ever since that stream, hell, since way before the stream. Failure weighed heavy on her shoulders.

"Thank you. For - savin' my ass back there. I'da been dead if you hadn't acted. An' you'd be -" His voice trailing off and he closed his eyes, his arm about her shoulder crushing her against his chest more as they continued to trudge on slowly through the woods. "You'da been left alone with him. Them. Sorry I made ya go to that."

"We're partners, Daryl. We do what we have to - to survive. It was my turn." Her head tilting off to the side lightly, leaning against his shoulder as they continued to wander aimlessly towards some semblance of safety.

At least, that was what they hoped.


	6. The Plan

New chapter up! Hope you enjoy, and again - reviews are amazing motivators. ;)

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

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><p>"Stop here." His breathing was ragged as he pointed out a fallen log on the ground that they could take a break on and regroup a bit. They needed to breathe, drink some water, and actually make a plan so that they weren't just wandering around aimlessly anymore, into possible danger. There had to be a destination in mind, so that they weren't just leaving tracks to be followed until Joe caught back up with them and paid them back for Harley. He had an idea in mind, but from the look on her face, the way that she seemed to be trying to work through something on her own, some way to verbalize her thoughts.<p>

He felt her stop there, the log against his legs and she untangled from him there, helping him drop down to that seat with a heavy groan, his eyes closed as his fingers pushed to his temples, trying to rub out the headache that had settled in quickly after the beat down he had gone through. "Thirsty?"

"We can circle back now, we're not that far from camp, but there's a definite path leading this way. If we're careful we can turn and follow in the direction they had been going and make our way to tracking them."

He stopped digging through his pack to stare at her, this shock on his face there, swallowing hard. "We ain't goin' nowhere near those men, woman. You outta your mind?"

"They're huntin' down a target. They're focused on him. We could get there still. We could do it, take them out before they've decided what they're gonna do."

"It ain't our problem, Carol." His hand bumping her arm there from the way that her arms tucked about her knees. He could see that it was weighing heavily on her there and he knew that he couldn't start to think about it as well, they couldn't afford him to begin to agree with her.

"So what? We run away?" Her gaze lifted to lock on his there, burning into his soul. "We spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders and being afraid of the group that will _never_ stop hunting us for what we've done? You know those men, Daryl, we won't ever be free of them."

"I can't fight them in this condition."

"They're following this guy that Tony saw, Daryl... there are only four of them left, and if we were careful - we have a real chance at taking them out from the sidelines, if we're quick and stay hidden. We could do it." Her head turned, twisting to watch his profile closely. "Daryl... It might be our only chance."

"Or it might get us killed." His voice gruff as he looked off into the distance there, reaching down for one of the water bottles resting on the ground and took a long pull from it. "Prison got shot ta hell, I ain't the only one who made it out. We go and retrace our steps, try to track our group and that'll give us numbers. We need numbers."

"They're not my group anymore Daryl." Her tone was decidedly sad and her hands tightened on her pants. "I don't know what Rick told people but-"

"I know." His voice quiet as he finally reached out to pull her hand off of her pants there to take in his own. "Carol, I know what happened, an' it was bad an' it was wrong of Rick ta do that to ya. These're still your people, past is gotta be the past now, ain't got no choice on that. No way in hell I'm gonna let anyone turn their back on you."

"Pookie..." The nickname sounded less like it's usual tease that she gave it. She was feeling broken and still terrified and overwhelmed by everything. Slowly her fingers grasped ahold of his and she held it tightly. "I can't - I can't face them, not after what he said." Her eyes closed tightly against the pain of a memory that he didn't know, but it ignited an anger in him that he didn't expect to still burn so brightly now. "If you want to find them, I will try to be okay with it. But I can't - work it out in my mind, I can't prepare myself for that if I can't find a way to - relax a little. And we'll never be able to do that knowing Joe's out there to hunt us down."

His hand reached out slowly and softly grasped her chin, slowly slipping back up to caress her cheek a bit, leaning in there and his lips searched out hers. The kiss stung a couple of the cuts by his mouth, but he ignored the burn as she leaned against him and kissed back. Slowly his arms slid about her waist and pulled her up tightly against his chest, crushing her closely in that moment. They were on borrowed time, but he felt confident that Joe wouldn't have had time to find the man, discover them missing, and start tracking them yet. They had time, and if he was really going to give in to Carol's plan that lead them to a very real danger, he had to go out like this. She had to know how he felt, beyond any doubts.

Her moan vibrated against his mouth and his arms lifted her a bit to twist them around, slowly leading her to lay out on the ground beside that log, moving himself down over her there, continuing the kiss. Deepening the kiss. His hands rolled sensually over her sides, taking in the contour of her body, exploring every inch of her that he could reach as his tongue explored her mouth, feeling every shudder and every silent sigh she let slip out into his mouth. Her nails raked his back and pushed through his hair. He didn't question that she wanted this - he had known all along that her teasing was more, he had known that they were more - this was just the first time that he was ready to take the chance and solidify it for the both of them. He had always been hers.

There was entirely too much clothes still between them and Carol's hands closed into fists there on his shirt, starting to drag it up, looking for more skin to touch, to feel and taste every inch of him. But they were on the ground in the middle of the woods, and that fact was not lost on her when she heard the low groans of a walker nearby, the stumbling feet dragging over the mossy ground. She groaned and broke the kiss, pulling away to go pull her knife and take it out, though one of Daryl's bolts flew before she could move too far towards it.

"We need walls." His gaze was darkened as his gaze turned back to her, groaning again as he saw her head tick back and forth. "You're killin' me."

"We'll get walls, when we're safe. When they're dead. I promise, Daryl."

"What if we don't survive it? You want to risk that it will never happen?" His gaze up on her there, his hand tightening on his crossbow there, nerves getting the better of him, watching the way Carol turned and thoughtfully crossed to the walker to pull the bolt back out to return to him. His chest felt heavy as he moved to stand up slowly, reaching out for that bolt.

"Nothing is going to happen to either of us."

"You sound so - certain of that. How do you know?"

"Because I love you." Her gaze fell on him, their hands both still clutching the retrieved bolt now, keeping it between them, rather than just passing it over. "I need you to survive. So you'll survive. Because you love me too." It wasn't a question, eyes burning into his as her other hand lifted out in his direction. Slowly she felt his hand press into hers and his fingers weaving their way through her own, a decisive smile crossing her face.

"Okay. After, then."


	7. Another Plan

**Next Chapter Up! I'm planning on getting the next (and probably final) chapter of this up tomorrow. This has been a blast to write and explore, and I want to thank everyone who reviewed and followed this to keep up the encouragements! Keep the faith - we're building up here.**

Disclaimer: I don't own it. That. This. Them. Or even Those. Nope, nope, nope.

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><p><em>"We'll find the trail, keep close enough to watch it without risking being seen following them. When we get there, we'll work with what they give us. If they aren't at their guy, we'll track him. When they get there, we'll need to give them a wide birth, but we have to be on opposite sides, if the attack only comes from one side, they'll have an easier chance of hitting one of us before we can take them down." <em>

_"We're not splitin' up Carol."_

_"It's the safest way, and you know it."_

_"I ain't lettin you outta my sight. If we're doing this, it's gonna be together. That's the way we survive this."_

They'd been walking in an almost contemptuous silence for a couple hours before his hands reached out to grab at her arms, a bit rougher than he had originally intended to be, but he had to stop her and focus on the sounds around them, and luckily she was smart enough not to yell out in surprise. They fell into complete silence.

The voices were just off into the distance, not clear enough that they could make out the words, but they knew them from the tones of the voices, it had to be Joe and his men. Daryl's arms slipped about Carol's waist there, holding her tightly as the fear crept up over him there, threatening to suffocate him completely. They were really here, trying this ridiculously risky plan of Carol's out, with only 'love' to protect them. It wasn't that Daryl was going to deny that he loved her, he did, it was just that he had seen this world in action and it wasn't any Disney movie. People died. Love didn't keep Lori alive. Love didn't keep Hershel's family alive. It didn't keep Hershel alive. Love wasn't a satisfactory defense against death, love had nothing to do with death, only living.

She started to tug back a bit to move towards them more and Daryl only held her tighter, shaking his head at her in those moments. He wanted to turn around and run away with her, they could still change their minds and take their chances. He felt the whisper of her lips against the base of his neck as she breathed out promises there - they would be okay, they just had to keep moving with the plan. They could find their happy storyline, the one that would extend the trip to the ending to the absolute longest that it could be. But the way to get to that was this direction, straight through Joe.

His nod was slow and focused there as his hands finally loosened enough to let her turn a bit in his arms. There was no way to tell what direction they needed to go until they got close enough to hear the words that Joe spoke to his men. He was hyper aware of every step he took and he used his arms to lead her legs there to the spots on the wooded ground that would make the least noise, keeping her lighter on her feet and hyper aware of where they were. They would get close and listen, and then stay there and wait for them to make their move and then come up behind them while they were busy with this guy and take them out. They would want to enjoy the kill - make him pay. They'd have time.

Joe was speaking in low tones, so the victim probably wasn't all too far away from them. They had to get pretty close to hear the conversation, and Daryl's body tensed against hers, holding her tightly there, afraid to be found out and become practice for these men. His crossbow dug into his shoulder and he knew he had to have it at the ready, but it was hard to unwind his arms from her there, tucked against his chest safely, feeling the soft rhythm of her chest rising and falling with the warmth that her body held. She was alive right now, and all that mattered was keeping her that way.

"Dan, you got the kid all on your own then?" Joe nodded towards him as the bigger man seemed to just be practically giddy in that moment, nodding firmly and enthusiastically, enjoying his given role immensely. Daryl felt Carol tense instantly in his arms and his hands rubbed her arms up and down there to try to soothe and comfort her. There was no denying that look and a man looking that excited about a kid hit a little too close to home for her it seemed.

"The bitch with the sword's gonna be our biggest problem."

"We have time, Bill. We have _nothing_ but time. She's going to leave it by the wayside eventually. It will be just out of reach for her, and that is when we strike." Daryl's blood ran cold. He tried internally denying what he was hearing, pushing it off. Surely there was more than one woman left in the world who carried a sword after all, right? It couldn't be them.

"She looks strong."

"You and Tony will take her together, you'll handle it. We're not afraid of any women here, we never have been. We have all the manpower we need."

"And him - Rick?"

Rick.

_Rick_

Carol's eyes closed tightly and she twisted in Daryl's arms to press her face into his chest to keep from making any noises at all. They had said his name, and everything rushed to hit hard and fast. She felt Daryl tugging on her to walk away, but she shook her head against his chest quickly, firmly planted on the ground there.

It was Rick. The thought made Daryl's stomach churn and he felt certain that he was going to hurl. He had almost tucked tail and run, would have if it hadn't been for Carol's insistence and certainty that this had to be done. And as angry as he was at Rick for what he had done, Rick was still family. Michonne was. And the kid - he didn't know which one he was talking about, but it didn't matter in that moment. That was their family and he knew that they were going to pull this off. It didn't make risking her any easier, but it made him more willing to do what had to be done.

Carol pulled her face back to look up into his eyes and she saw that nod of his, giving one of her own. They were doing this, there wasn't any turning back now, no matter what.

"Rick's mine. I won't need help."

Daryl's hands tightened there on Carol, face burrowing down into those grey curls and he breathed out a ghost of a growl against her there. "Claimed."


	8. The Execution

New Chapter up! Apologies for it being later than expected, things came up yesterday

Disclaimer: I don't own TWD. If I did tonight's episode would certainly not be the first Caryl bottle episode.

Shoutout to WhatWhereWhen. Your reviews have been so amazing and the last one meant so much to me. Thank you very much for being such a loyal reader. I hope you continue to enjoy. (As well as the others who follow/favorite/and review of course) Thank you!

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><p>They listened to Joe and his men argue for awhile about specifics. Billy wanted to go back and look for Marley to help them. He didn't mention Daryl, they had figured that Daryl hadn't stayed after their little show with Carol and Marley had chased after them. Joe had pushed back that he wasn't going to waste time and opportunity to go back for a man who cared more about trying to take a turn with a woman than avenging a good friend of theirs who had been killed so uselessly.<p>

No, they had enough people and the perfect opportunity now to get this Rick and his small group and make him pay for his sins.

Finally they had their plans settled on and they moved through the woods to stakeout Rick's little threesome and wait for their chance to strike. Daryl and Carol moved there through the woods behind them, quietly and cautious to be sure that they wouldn't alarm them in any way. Finally they were as close as they dared to get, close enough to hear the intones of Rick's voice, but not close enough to be able to hear his words.

Then a female voice muttering back to him.

Rick's.

The voice that had to belong to Michonne.

Carol listened to their voices drone on and her hand slowly moved back to the shotgun over her shoulder, lowering it down into her own hands, rolling her fingers over the steel barrel as she held her breath. She felt Daryl kiss the back of her shoulder as they sat in complete silence, listening for any movement, feeling out the air for any senses of danger from the dead or from the living.

The sound of rustling, so subtle that it could had been mistaken for a light breeze, or the pitter of a small animal across the ground, finally broke the silence that felt as if it had lasted forever. And then another similar rustle followed it. A third rustle and then she heard the deeper intone, more jovial sounding than the other two had been. Joe. He was announcing his presence to them and without the sound of a gunshot of the thud of bodies cut down by the Katana, it sounded as if their plan went off all too well. They were taken by surprise. The forth man coming out had none of the stealth the other three had, he lumbered all too loudly. Dan.

Daryl squeezed Carol's shoulder, leaned down to brush his lips over hers before giving her a firm nod, they moved to walk through the woods towards the sound of the voice, not close enough to move out to the clearing, keeping to the trees, using them for cover. He stopped at the tree that Carol would be climbing for her post and squeezed her arm, gesturing ahead and swinging his arm. Carol nodded an understanding and took to climbing the tree quickly as Joe counted down 'to the ball drop'.

Michonne first. His actions had been crystal clear to her. Michonne's men could be taken out, and maybe she would have a chance to get to her katana. Dan was still positioned on the car door, not actually physically hands-on with Carl yet, which meant that he didn't take priority.

Daryl slipped as stealthily and quickly as he could off away from her enough so that they weren't too close. He was listening to the count down, knowing that they had to act quickly. Rick had tried to get away from Joe and Joe had laughed it off, pausing the counting to tell Rick everything would be better for everyone if he just kept still and took the shot like a real man. Then he started at four.

_Three_ Carol's eyes met Daryl's and she touched the top of her head, pointing to herself and watching him nod. She would be aiming for Tony, with the bandanna, she had him much more clearly in her line of sight from up here.

_Two_ They took careful aim, steadying shaky weapons and taking their own separate deep breaths to be at the ready.

_O_ The word never leaves Joe's lips. The sound of a gunshot causes Rick's body to go completely rigid, causes Carol to scream and Michonne to jump as she watches in slow motion as the two men at her sides fall down dead. She crouches and reaches around the man with the bullet wound right straight through the side of his head, blood soaking the black bandanna on his head, eyes still wide open, unseeing and unaware of the pain, it had been too quick for him to even brace himself for anything, too unexpected.

The hilt of the sword was in her hand in a split second, raising to her feet and lifting it, her gaze twisting to the other man to be certain that he was really gone as well, but there was a bolt planted there right through his left eye, pinning him to the ground through the other side of his head. He was gone too.

The distraction gave Rick a chance to toss his weight back more effectively a second time, knocking Joe down and disorienting him a bit. Rick moved to his feet, looking at the bolt. "Daryl?" His gaze looking around in the woods, trying to locate the other man.

"Rick!" Michonne's voice broke through to him as she started towards the car, watching the big man with a knife pulling open the door and reaching for the boy, his knife already in hand.

Another gunshot and Dan fell forward there into the car. A shot through the chest this time, because it was the safest place to shoot, the only way to be certain that it wouldn't rip through him and hit Carl as well.

Joe looked through the trees towards the sound, blinking his eyes to focus and lifting his gun at the fluttering movement in that direction and pulling the trigger. The boom went off and then a bolt slid through his temple and dropped him where he lay, instantly.

There was a thud and Daryl's heart hit the ground hard, shattering on impact, his feet moving, crossbow abandoned on the ground behind him. "Carol!"

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><p>This was going to be the last chapter, but I decided to end it here and give another one. I also have a plan brewing for going further, exploring Terminus without Carol on the outside to be the catalyst. I've been going back and forth on it, so any suggestions on yay or nay are helpful. :)<p> 


	9. His World

New chapter up! I hope you enjoy. Sorry for the intense cliffhanger last time. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own TWD or anything that you recognize from it.

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><p>Daryl's feet flew across the ground and his knees hit the ground just at her side as soon as she was within his reach, arms instantly wrapped about her body and pulled her up into his lap, fingers moving there over her shirt, yanking open her shirt, his vision blurred and all he could see was blood. She was bleeding. Carol was shot out of a tree by that man and he should have been paying better attention, he should have taken Joe out before he had a chance to pull that trigger, but he had been distracted by Dan as well at Michonne's yell. Daryl had dropped his guard on her and now she was going to die in his arms. The tears were on his face as his fingers fumbled, ripping at her shirt in frustration. "Carol..." Choking out her name there. He heard voices as if they were from afar, but he couldn't pay attention to them. They didn't matter right now. Those voices distracted him and he allowed them. His hands moved to press to her bared torso, feeling for the wound.<p>

"Daryl." It was strained, obvious pain and his eyes snapped up to Carol as she winced there, shaking her head. "Daryl... stop - stop... moving..." She looked about ready to pass out from the pain, but she was forcing her eyes to stay open to try to catch his. "Okay. I'm - okay. Stop... moving. Please." A sob ripping from her throat as he continued to hold her and tremble there, searching out that gunshot wound.

"Daryl." Rick's voice firm as his hand reached out to grasp the man's shoulder, but he was thrown off and actually stumbled back a bit under the feral glare he was hit with.

"You sent her away to die and she's gonna die like this - savin' your ass. Savin' your kid. You sent her -"

"She isn't going to die, Daryl." Michonne's voice gentle as she stepped forward, hands reaching out. "You need to put her down. I can find some sticks, something to make a splint with. But you have to stop moving her."

Michonne was crazy. Carol was bleeding to death and she was talking about fixing it with a splint. Daryl's arms held her tighter and she let out a low guttural noise from the back of her throat and he finally moved to set her down, not wanting her last few moments to be pained just because he selfishly wanted to hold her.

"Daryl." Her voice trembled painfully, but it was as firm as she could make it and his eyes locked on hers, leaning closer.

"I love you. I love you. I'm sorry, I know that you knew I just - I shoulda said it. Carol - I... I shoulda said it. More. Always. All the damn time, I just -"

"Daryl." She looked almost - amused? He felt himself growing annoyed by her reaction and he was going to something and she slowly lifted an arm to press to his lips. "I love you too. I wasn't shot."

"But you... he shot you."

"He shot at me." Her voice pained still as she struggled to focus on the words, soothing him. "I lost my balance when I moved to try to avoid it. I saw him aiming and I couldn't shoot so I - I tried to move and the sound jumped me and I - I fell. I'm okay."

"But - no... you-" Daryl sat back on his haunches there, looking her over there, wiping at his eyes with the back of his arm. Finally the blurry vision subsided a bit and he was able to take her in. The blood was from an array of little cuts and scrapes from falling out of and banging against a tree. There wasn't actually all that much blood, just a lot of superficial markings. "You're hurt."

"Mmm.. snapped my arm." A groan of pain again as she shifted against the ground, avoiding looking down to the arm that she knew from past experience had to be broken.

A broken arm. She fell out of the tree and broke her arm and covered herself in scrapes and bruises. Daryl had never thought that he would find relief in any sense of pain that she would feel. He moved to lay on the ground next to her, lips crushing against hers, desperate and quick as he took in the feel of her warm body, alive and thriving. The kiss was all-consuming and he growled a bit against her lips in that moment, before pulling back to look her over.

A pained chuckle escaped her and she smiled at him. "I love you too, Pookie." Looking about ready to pass out from the pain of her arm, though she was holding on strong for him. "I - uh - I'm sorry I worried you."

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be when we find those walls you promised me." A half smile down at her, eyebrow raised in her direction as his hands softly reached towards her arm. "Gonna need your belt, Rick." Not looking up at the man. "We drawn enough attention our way, this is gonna hurt and she's gonna scream." Hand out and waiting, taking the belt as soon as it's handed over and he slowly folded it over and pressed it between her teeth for her to bite on. "Get a solid couple sticks for that splint a'yours Michonne." Nodding back to her. "I'll hold it steady till ya find them."

"I'll be quick." Katana in hand as she moved to go find something workable for Daryl to use for Carol's arm.

"I love you." Again, but this time instead of panic, there is a sympathetic pain in his voice, not enjoying the idea of what he has to do now, but her bone is twisted in the wrong way and he knows he has to find the proper way to reset it and hold it there in order to heal it right and not do permanent damage. Daryl is no doctor and he's aware that it might take him more than one try. "For your sake, Woman, I hope you pass out fast. Just... be ready." His tones low and sorrowful.

She can't speak around the belt shoved into her mouth, but she nods her head, a tear slipping out the side of her eye as she tries to brace herself for the pain that she expects, trying to be ready to deal with the pain, knowing that she's going to be causing Daryl even more emotionally.

Michonne returns with the sticks and grasps Rick's arm, pulling him back towards the clearing to go check on Carl and keep him away. She sticks close to help if Daryl needs her help, but she gives them their privacy the best that she can. This moment holds a weakness to it for both of them, and they don't need any spectators to that.

Carol's muffled screams of pain were loud and tortured, despite her attempts to bite them down into the belt. Daryl had to block out the world and focus on her arm, feeling his way around the bone to be sure that it was placed well, holding it firm while Michonne created a makeshift splint with several sticks and a shredded shirt to tie it together. The rest of the shirt was fitted and worked about her to work as a sling to keep it protected and close. Daryl wasn't sure when she had passed out, but he was relieved to notice it as he tied the sling about the back of her neck.

"We gotta flank her, make sure nothin' gets past us to her. She can shoot her handgun still, but she's not gonna be much hand to hand and she ain't gonna be able to use no rifle." Her head rested in his lap as his hand smoothed over her curls, watching the comforting rise and fall of her chest, mesmerized by it.

"Of course"

"Daryl... what happened?" Rick's voice broke in finally and he moved closer to them, keeping Carl close by his side.

"Not now. Later." Dismissing Rick, he didn't have time for the words that he needed to have with the man, the lines in the sand that would have to be written. He would put it all out there and they would come to an understanding, they needed people and Carol had just almost single-handedly saved his ass. They would take care of it all. Later.

Until then, he would hold her and count the breaths until her eyes opened to meet his again.

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><p>Decided I had more to go with on this story, so we're going to go ahead and keep going. It might be a little bit slower getting going because I don't have the solid plan, just a vague idea.<p>

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Any and all reviews are helpful and welcome.


	10. Lacking Absolution

Finally managed to work through the mess and decided on where I want to take the story next, so it's up. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own TWD. It's as simple and as boring as that.

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><p>Carol groaned softly as she situated against the tree at her back, sitting up and watching Daryl skinning the squirrels that he had caught for their meal. THey'd hunkered down in the same clearing where everything that had gone down in. They had agreed that they would stay for awhile until Carol had some use of her arm left. Carl had tried to argue the point that they should keep going towards the sanctuary faster now, and Rick had to remind him that people couldn't be trusted. They needed all the able bodies they could get walking blindly into this new place.<p>

"Hey." She twisted towards Rick's voice there with a soft groan, her knife digging into the dirt at her side. Rick had avoided her completely the past two nights and that had suited her just fine. It was true that she was glad he hadn't died, and she would gladly do anything she could do to keep him safe still, but just because she had this familial love for him did not mean that she had to have any kind of like for the man who had abandoned her and told her that no one would want her back at the prison if they found out what she had done. "We need to talk."

"We really don't."

"Carol..."

"What, Rick? You want me to go sleep further away from Carl? You want me to head off to Terminus ahead of the group and watch to see if I 'make it back' or not before you tromp everyone else in behind?" Her tone was more biting than she meant for it to be, but everything that had happened since her banishment was finally getting to her. "You didn't want to be a leader, until suddenly, you did again. You made a call for the better of the group. I did too. I'm sorry about what happened, I am. What I did - it's a part of me now, something that I will never forget or truly get over, but it's done. And I did it for those kids. You want to pretend you didn't see the Walkers with those symptoms? That the sickness wasn't the most deadly thing we had ever come across? Or that I didn't just make it a more... merciful death for them?" Her voice was trembling. "You're not God, Rick. Stop playing him."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Looking away from him, obviously the words just slide off of her back. It feels hollow.

"I don't get it. I'm still not - sure about any of that, but I know now that it doesn't matter. I know that Carl is safe with you. I know-" His voice cracked and Carol tried not to let herself feel sorry for the man at all. "I know Judy would have been safe with you too. You're a part of us, and you just... what you just did - I know it isn't easy. And - I hope that you'll... have us with you now, after what I did to you. You'll - stay with our group? Your group?"

"I'm not going anywhere Rick." She wasn't meeting his eyes and Rick seemed to be kneeling there, waiting for absolution from her when he hadn't even been willing to do the same for her in his search for forgiveness. Her chest ached and she kept her jaw tightly clenched shut. She wasn't a mouse anymore, she wouldn't ask him for forgiveness and she wouldn't pretend to forgive him for hurting her just because she saw that it was what he wanted her to say.

"Said your piece Rick." His voice broke through the silence and she felt Rick jump there, as if he had forgotten that Daryl wasn't sitting that far away from them, listening to his every word. His tone was as annoyed as Carol had felt and she couldn't help the soft smile that crossed her face. Despite everything, she had Daryl and he was on her side. "Might as well go an make yourself useful." He tossed the freshly skinned squirrels at Rick's chest there and stepped around him to sit at Carol's side, his arm wrapping about her waist to tug her up against himself.

"Yeah. I'll - start these up then. Michonne and Carl should be back from their scavenging soon." Rick stood up and walked over to start up a fire to cook the squirrels over.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Thanks." Her smile was soft and warm as she leaned against his side, head tilting up and pressing her lips to his. His fingers slowly slipped up to tangle in her curls, kissing her with everything he had in him, responding to that soft moan off of her lips. His other hand slowly rolled down over her side to rest against her hip, careful to avoid the arm rested on her chest in the sling between them.

She practically jumped away from him at the sound of rustling and heavy footsteps through the woods. Daryl grabbed at his crossbow and moved to his feet in front of her instantly, and then he saw the man stumble out of the woods, looking up with this glazed look in his eyes, lips parted ever so slightly.

"Ty?" Rick stood up and watched at their friend breathed out this sigh of relief before he let himself fall, facedown into the dirt. Daryl and Rick rushed forward, but Carol's eyes were locked just behind him.

"Mika..."


	11. Sick

Hi... so - yeah, this was a little hard to write, but this is how I see things happening had Carol not been with Tyreese and the girls. I might have actually even been a little kind about things. More answers about the happenings will be coming eventually but - for now this is what we have. Believe in our group, okay? They're gonna need. it. ;)

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and help to motivate the writing. Thanks to all who have reviewed and Favorited and followed this story so far. It means so much!

Disclaimer: I do not own TWD universe or anything inside it.

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><p>"Mika" The tears were on Carol's face before she stumbled forward, reaching out her good arm for the little girl that she had just assumed that she would never see again, because not thinking about it was the only thing that kept her breathing day in and day out. She felt the little girl ram into her hard and wrap trembling arms tightly there about, she felt the girl sob into her there and she just wrapped her close and bent to cover the top of the girl's head in kisses. "I'm here baby girl." Her voice soothing over the little girl as she rocked back and forth a bit, she knew that she shouldn't be encouraging any signs of weakness right now because she would have to be tougher than ever now for this world, but seeing the little girl step out from the woods brought her back to seeing her sweet little Sophia step out of the barn, only Mika's eyes were still alive with the horrors and grief she carried around with her. The innocence that scared her so much seemed to be drained out of the girl completely and that horrified her more than she wanted to admit, but brought about a relief so suffocating that she felt it close about her chest and squeeze everything out of her.<p>

"Daryl. Help me turn him." Rick's voice felt distant and she wouldn't have thought anything of it if she didn't feel Mika shaking her head fervently.

"Wait. Don't." Carol called out to the men, standing up straighter and looking down at Mika there and letting go, letting the little girl walk silently towards the men as they paused on their way to get to Tyreese. The little girl bent down and pulled the makeshift poncho up on Tyreese's back, revealing what they had originally assumed was a backpack and causing the three adults standing there to gasp in shock. Rick was the first to move forward and work his daughter out from the carrier on the man's back, looking over at her as her little eyes opened and looked up to him.

Judith didn't cry or struggle to get away. She didn't coo up at him. She just looked at him, zapped of all energy with her eyes slightly out of focus there, her body just hanging limply in his arms. The girl looked much worse for the wear, but she was alive. A sob ripped through Rick's throat and he sat down with her, covering his daughter in kisses, unsure what was wrong or how she survived or what to do now, but he held his little girl tight and just sat on the ground.

"Dad?" Carl's voice broke through the scene and everyone turned around to see the path that Michonne and Carl were returning from, berries picked and collected his his sheriffs hat to go with the squirrels they had, and then they were dropped and spilled all over the ground as he took off running at the sight of what his father held in his arms. "Judy!" He landed on his knees, covering his sister in kisses there, not even noticing the awful state she was in yet, because she was there and she wasn't dead.

"What happened?" Michonne stepped further into the clearing, looking between Carol and Daryl before walking over to help Daryl turn Tyreese over onto his back to get a good view of him and whatever it was that had knocked him over.

"Shit." Daryl muttered there, his hands pulling off the man as his eyes flashed to Carol and Mika. "Little bit, what happened?" He tried to keep his voice calm as he addressed the scared little girl, watching as she pressed her lips together with a purpose, shaking her head, she seemed to have taken a vow of silence, her hand closing about Carol's arm nervously. Daryl sighed heavily, looking up to meet Carol's gaze. "He's burnin' up."

"Why isn't she moving?" Carl's voice was almost desperate sounding as he finally seemed to notice the state of his little sister there. The world was too loud and the air was too thick. There were too many questions that needed to be answered, and no sign of hope that they were actually anywhere near getting any of those answers.

"Mika." Carol softly hit her knees and met the little girl's eyes. "Don't think about it, everything that happened... you just focus right now, one thing at a time baby girl." Her hand cupped Mika's cheek and pulled her full attention to herself. "Can you tell us... what's wrong with Tyreese? What happened?"

Mika slowly shifted forward, her hand grasping the hem of Carol's jacket as she lead her towards Tyreese, slowly bending down next to the man and moving her hand to push up the blanket poncho again, then his sleeve, showing off his arm and looking back to Carol with big eyes.

"Dammit." Daryl's tone was dark as he looked over the obvious infection. It had been festering untouched for some time now and it looked bad. "We need to find some antibiotics, some... bandages, some... shit. We just need to find the shit to clean this up and fix him." His gaze up on Michonne. "You think we can find a town nearby? Some place that maybe's got a pharmacy or doctor's office or - somethin'?"

"What's wrong with Judith?" Carl's voice was more firm this time, looking up towards Daryl and Michonne and then over towards Carol and Mika, his eyes honing in on the little girl. "What happened to Judith?"

Mika looked at Carl, biting her bottom lip hard and just shaking her head slowly, stepping closer to Carol there, hiding a bit behind her jacket almost.

"What happened to my sister?" Carl was on his feet, his fists clenched as he started towards the little girl, stalking forward, his entire body tensed, coiled and ready to strike.

"Carl don't." Carol's hand out, palm flat as she stepped further in front of Mika, a statue protectively tucked between the two of them. "Fighting isn't going to help anyone. Rick-" Her gaze lifted up to see the man as he slowly pushed up to his feet, holding that disinterested little girl in his arms. "Rick, bring her here. You can hold her I just - I'll look her over." Her hand out in his direction now, though she kept herself positioned between Carl and Mika at all times now, protective over that little girl.

Slowly Rick made his way over, holding Judith close and looking down at her. "She doesn't feel warm... no fever. She's not... sick is she? You don't think-?"

Carol shook her head, looking the little girl over, lightly rolling her hand down over her little body, softly slipping a finger into the little girl's mouth, frowning with a heavy sigh, then slowly her fingers moved back over a few superficial looking cracks in her skin. "She's dry. Cracking..." A heavy sigh there and she looks up to Rick. "Hershel went over these signs with me first off. She's malnourished. They probably haven't had anything to feed her since the prison fell." Her chest constricted at the complete look of disinterest filled the little girl's gaze there, she was so weak she didn't have the energy to cry, or even seem to notice that she was dying. "Maybe if we find something fast, maybe we can reverse it. There will probably be things that will be slow to come back but - if that's all it is, she'll recover. As long as we find something right off, before her organs start to fail from it."

"We're going on a run." Daryl nodded his head as he stepped forward into the conversation. "Michonne and I." His hand up there as he saw protests brewing with Rick and a look flashing through Carol's eyes. "We'll be the fastest getting in and out of a town and time is important. There's a place we stayed with Joe's group, not far back, a garage." His gaze locked on Carol's there, nodding with a heavy sigh. "It's not ideal, but it's cover. I know it won't be easy to get to with Tyreese so bad off, but you have to try. We'll get back there by tomorrow evening, latest. Carol can lead the way." His tone left no room for arguing, his logic was clear and they all agreed to the plan.

There wasn't time for lengthy goodbyes, just a quick peck on the lips between Carol and Daryl and a mutual promise to see one another soon. She watched him disappear into the woods again, glancing back to see Rick and Carl working on a makeshift stretcher the best that they could, shifting Judith in her good arm until Rick was ready to take her and put her in the carrier on his own back again, and then they were ready to go, a caravan consisting of a woman with one good arm, a mute little girl, a dying baby, an unconscious man, and a cop and his teenager, both emotionally ravaged and burdened down with the weight of carrying the stretcher.

And that was when the groans came.


	12. Pills and Cans

So... I apologize for this one taking so long. I posted it a couple days ago on Nine Lives and wasn't able to upload it at that point and I didn't remember that I hadn't posted it yet until I went to update today's chapter. So - looks like you get at least two chapters today.

Disclaimer: I don't own TWD, it's characters, it's locations, it's weapons, or anything else really.

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><p>"Dammit!" Daryl shoved his hands against an empty shelf from an already raided pharmacy, causing the metal to ring out and echo around the walls of the place, he saw Michonne flinch slightly before she moved back to digging through piles of unwanted medications, vitamins of all sorts and then all kinds of little blue pills and those ridiculous 'Extendz' pills that people took to make them feel better, but Daryl never believed in that kind of thing before, they seemed even more useless now. He scoffed as he saw Michonne digging around and grabbing up all the vitamins. "You on a health kick or somethin'?"<p>

"Carl and Mika don't eat a variety of foods, and not always a lot of what they do get, vitamins were made to supplement what people need. And after what's happened to Judith... what's happening..." Her voice trailed off. "The kids need to be taken care of, at least." She filled up a backpack with every kind of vitamin she could get her hands on. "The hard stuff has been taken, there's nothing for Tyreese here, we'll keep looking, but that doesn't mean everything else gets cast aside."

"Yeah." Rubbing the back of his neck. "But - she's gonna be fine, lil' asskicker. I mean... it's just - who she is. She ain't survived this far, everything we gone through till now, to bite it like this."

"That why you're avoiding the baby aisle like the plague right now?" Michonne pointed out there, shifting up to her feet, slipping her bag onto her shoulder. "I mean, I thought we'd make a beeline there."

"Looked pretty damn empty when I glanced that way. I jus' - I didn't want to... but we gotta keep lookin', we gotta check, if they even got one can of somethin' back there..." He didn't have hope left in him, he was drained of it, but he was putting on the best show of it that he could, and he was still trying. That had to count for something, right?

The silence between them was deafening as they walked back to the baby section, stripped pretty bare. There were a few jars of baby food left and Michonne bagged them up, but in Judith's state she wasn't sure that getting her to eat anything not liquid, even in this mushed consistency, would be possible. And a couple jars would never touch how bad off the girl was. The tears were swimming in her eyes, magnifying them, but she didn't speak out any of the things that she was thinking. There was one can of formula.

"One fuckin' can!" Daryl picked it up, shoving it at Michonne harder than he meant to before turning around, finding an empty display behind himself, winding up and kicking it with all his might, knocking it over completely with a deafening clang. "How we s'posedta save that little girl with couple jars of food and a single can of formula? Ain't even gonna jumpstart her, let alone hold her over till we can find more."

"Daryl..."

"No. I'm done. I can't do none of this no more. I can't go back there and see their hearts break, an watch lil' asskicker go down like that. I ain't goin' back."

"So you'd just leave Carol to it then? To deal with you not coming back on top of Judith and whatever that little girl is going through?" Her voice didn't raise, it was shockingly low as she twisted to watch him. She saw him freeze and then he moved over to another aisle and she listened as he screamed and shoved at more shelving units. The further back section of the store where people hadn't bothered to loot as much, but the medicine and baby aisle were up here and stripped bare. Right now, these were the only sections that mattered, and she knew that empty shelving units weren't satisfying his need to really wreck something up as badly as life felt right now.

She listened to the cussing and the sound of metal scraping linoleum. Glass jars broke as he tossed them to the ground and she stood there and took in the sound of the world shattering around them. It felt like therapy just to have it all wash over her, and slowly the tears started to fall on her face and she allowed herself time to just stand there and sob over everything that happened to them up until this point. Losing Judith dredged up all of her pains and heartache of losing Andre once again, her chest tightening as she slowly slipped down to sit on the floor and let out her own frustration in tears.

Finally she heard Daryl's voice yelling to her from the other side of the store and she forced herself up to her feet to follow the sound of his voice, her katana held cautiously in her hand, ready to strike.

"Michonne!" His voice was louder, and he came rushing around the corner to see her coming. "Come on. Get that bag open." There was a grin on his face there and it stopped the woman in her tracks. She couldn't seem to make her feet move at all. "We ain't got all day. Get over here, we gotta get back to them."

Finally her feet moved forward and her eyes hit the shelf that Daryl was looking over and her mouth fell open, looking down at the stocked shelves. "Do you think they're still safe? And - she could have them? I mean... aren't most of these for adults?"

"We'll dilute if we gotta. Stretch 'em out too. But there's ones down here for kids." The grin could not be wiped off his face. "Michonne, this is our best shot. We ain't got time to look elsewhere. And these drinks..." His voice trailed as he held up the bottles in his hands. "They're just meant to supplement, but they can supplement that one can and those jars of food till we can get her somethin' real. These drinks are a win. And it's about damn time we had one of those." He held up the bottles of children's supplemental drinks. Boosts and Ensures and a few things of Pedialites. They weren't the ideal, but they were a glimmering hope and it was enough to have Michonne grinning again, Daryl's excitement infectious as she knelt down with an open and waiting bag.

"We got a win." She finally conceded as she slipped the now heavy bag back over her shoulders and struggled a bit to her feet, taking Daryl's offered hand and then collecting the katana back in her hand and they headed back out to find their group at the garage they had set up for a meeting place, silently agreeing to walk all night to get there as quickly as they possibly could. They would rest when Judith was on her way to being on the mend.


	13. Bay Doors

If you are reading this as I post it, be aware that this is my second new chapter posted back-to-back because I didn't realize I hadn't updated it last chapter, so there is a chapter 12 to read as well. That being said - I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. I am not getting paid to write this, I just enjoy it.

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><p>"Shut up!" Carol's ears finally perked up as she heard Carl speaking to Mika again and she sighed, her fingers pausing their gentle swirl of shapes against the infant's back to try to stay calm and to keep a close track of her breathing patterns, which had been erratic for quite some time now. Mika's sobs from the corner of the garage were really beginning to get to her as well at this point, but she had to try to smile and deal with everything being put up against her now. Carl's anxieties were not among the least of her troubles really.<p>

"Carl." Her voice was firm, but she reached her free hand out towards Mika once more, waiting expectantly for her to cross and she frowned as she took note of the hesitation that seemed to take hold of the little girl. Slowly Mika made her way over and Carol pressed a kiss to the part in her hair before she slowly slid Judith over to the little girl and into her arms once more, instructing her to be careful and keep still there. Finally she pusehed to her feet and walked over closer to one of the doors, listening to the banging of hands against loose metal as Walkers gathered around the front of their hideout in droves now.

"Talk to her, she's the one who's gonna get us killed." Gesturing to Mika there with the big gestures there behind her, pacing back and forth a bit, obviously anxious, getting frustrated by the growing group of Walkers right outside the door.

"It's better that they're here." Her voice was soft as she approached the young man, watching the way he held himself against those groans and scratches. "That means less of them noticed your dad leaving to go back to the ditch." Carl tensed even further and she sighed, looking down to her feet and then back up to him, trying her hardest not to seem like she's babying the boy at all, she could see him coiled and ready to strike and knew that if it weren't for Judith's safety to consider, he would already have made a dangerous and reckless decision.

"I don't know why he had to go back anywys. I know we hid Tyreese as well as we could in that ditch and he was covered and out of sight, but all it'd have taken was one groan from him or a straggling Walker happening on him by accident and he'd be gone. He had to be gone at least twenty minutes from his side learning how to get here." His eyes were clouded with anger, guarded. "He's risking his life for a man we probably aren't going to be able to save anyways. His arm is shot to hell, that kind of thing kills people."

"We can't just leave one of our own behind, your father wouldn't do that, as long as there's hope. And he wouldn't leave you and your sister here with us alone and take off towards Tyreese unless he truly believed that there was hope for him." And Carol mused, even while she had this argument, that indeed they had come down to the situation Rick had cited when he banished her, however temporary it was, it had come down to the two of them and he had left her alone with the children, trusted her with them. There was some poetic justice to be had here, and it both helped to soothe fears about their situation and reopened the emotional wounds of hearing him say that all over again.

"Yeah well, he's risking his life out there for no good reason. And he's stuck out there for - who knows how long. He can't bring Tyreese here on his own, he probably couldn't get here on his own anyways through this mess." Carol had to reach out and grab Carl before he wound up and kicked the doors.

"You'll make it worse." Her voice firm there as she nodded back to the girls, sighing as he backed up further into the garage, hugging her arms to herself. "It's only been a few hours." Slowly she shifted the gun in her hand, looking down at it with disdain, she knew if it came to it, she would do whatever it took, but it didn't make the hope of protecting themselves against the growing herd outside any easier to swallow.

It was hours of listening to the pounding on the doors, the metal groaning, before she resigned herself that the doors were going to give way and they would have to fight through. Carol moved to put Judith in the baby carrier with gentle kisses, trying to keep herself calm as she walked over to strap it to Mika's back, feeling the girl tremble and wince a couple times as she strapped the piece onto her, though she still never spoke any words to them.

"Hey..." Carol's hands finally turned Mika to face her and her hands framed the little girl's face softly. "You hide in the truck bed and keep quiet. No tears, you can't right now. If you hear one close by, you get up and you shoot it." Her hand slowly moved to place Mika's gun in her hand, trying to be steady and sure. "You remember how to use this?" Mika silently nodded and Carol's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Good girl. We're gonna be okay. Don't get up unless you hear one close, and aim for the head." Carol placed a soft kiss on Mika's forehead before lifting her up inside an empty truck bed and helping her get situated and hidden for the safety of the two little girls.

"Carol." She heard that scraping of metal on metal before she heard Carl's voice and she quickly turned on her heel to rush to his side, looking at the way one of the bay doors had folded in on itself a bit, leaving a gap under the doorway and some smaller gaps on either side of the bay, enough for hands to reach through, but it was only a matter of time before one of them realized there was room to crawl under the doorway. And once one of them did, they would all realize it.

"I'm here." Her voice just a breath, shifting to tuck her gun into the sling to keep it close, taking her knife into her good hand, hoping that she could get a few solid kills in with this before it got to the point where she would have to waste valuable bullets, nodding for Carl to arm up with his knife first as well, gesturing to the ground for him to watch, feeling the lump rising in her throat.

When one of them finally started crawling under, she dove to her knees to stab it in the head, her chest rising and falling in panic as she tried to block off the stem of Walkers falling to their knees and trying to crawl in to their next meal as the herd focused in on the one door and the metal groaned even more. She moved to pull on the corpses that were done in and push them away so they weren't blocking the door further, feeling Carl's gaze turning on her questioningly as she dove back in to continue to stab more, her chest heaving.

"Every." Stab. "Kill." Struggling to pull her knife out one-handedly, already exhausted. "Matters." The numbers that they could draw under the doors to kill in this more focused area would mean less when the door gave way completely and they were faced head on with the full group.

Which, by the sound of the metal groaning under the excited weight of the dead, would not be long at all now.


	14. Breakdown

Disclaimer: I don't own it. :(

I truly hope that you enjoy this chapter. The next might not be the most fun.

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><p>The doors groaned and Carol shook her head, finally grabbing at Carl's arm to start to back up and pull him along, knowing that the bodies scattered around them were going to be their limit as the bay door began to swing more loosely under the pressure. They barely made it out of the trajectory before it pulled off of it's track and tossed forward, squishing discarded and unmoving bodies further and then there is this moment where the Walkers began pouring in, hungry and amped up, ready for a meal after all of the work to get in.<p>

Carl lifted his gun and started firing off shots into the Walkers streaming in, but there were still at least a couple dozen there and Carol realized with this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that her hand gun had fallen from her sling while she was dragging bodies from the door, and was now officially out of her reach. She could go back for another weapon, but that would mean leaving Carl alone there, and she just gripped the knife in her hand harder and determined that she would take out as many as she could - go down fighting and give the kids a fighting chance.

It was four Walkers in before the adrenaline wasn't enough anymore, and one of the walkers got to her and hit her arm just right to cause her to scream out in pain. She stumbled back to try to get away, but it followed after her, dropping down on her, and her eyes pressed tightly closed against the tears as she felt the scrape against her arm, feeling the skin at her shoulder straining under a sharp point, close to ripping open and the sob of helplessness ripped from her throat. The exhaustion took over and her eyes pressed closed tightly, the sounds of the gunshots faded into the distance and time just seemed to still to a stop. She had let Rick down. She had let Daryl down. Mika, Judith, Carl - the tears were falling and she trembled there under the weight of the walker. "Daryl..." It was barely a whisper off of her lips.

It was several moments before she felt the weight of the walker lifted off of her and her head twisted to watch in confusion and an angel in leather stood over her there, tossing aside the walker with a bolt through the back of it's head and protruding from it's eyesocket off to the side. A sob left the back of her throat as she watched him kneel down and gather her into his arms, her good arm reaching out instantly about his back, clinging him as he lifted her to his feet, feeling the way his lips searched out hers, hungry and desperate, intensity of fear and relief mixing there as they moved together, crushed tightly.

Finally his lips moved from hers when she couldn't breathe anymore and felt her knees starting to give way. His arms folded about her and lifted her up into his grasp, kissing her forehead. "That makes two, woman. Two times you've tried to die on me before we found our walls. Startin' to get a complex." He was trying to joke, but his voice shook and his arms trembled as he tried to hold her close enough to absorb her into his own body, looking for a way to keep her safe.

"Daryl..." Her voice trembled and her eye glanced towards her shoulder, seeing now that the scrape that hadn't broken the skin completely wasn't teeth, but instead the indent of the tip of Daryl's bolt from the way it had stuck out of the walker's eye and scraped down against her. "Daryl." The relief in her tone washing over her as she dove back in for another kiss, her arm about him tightening, fingers tangling in his hair and clutching him as tightly as she could.

He kissed her for as long as he felt her lungs could hold out before his lips left hers once more and patterned over her forehead. "I'm here. I got ya. I'm here."

Carl had taken Michonne to the truck and they had talked Mika out of the truck bed and Michonne was already fixing a bottle for Judith, who rested in Carl's arms when Carol was able to focus on everything about them again. Daryl carried her over to the small group and slowly set her down on the tailgate of the truck, looking her over again, hand rolling over her exposed skin, from the top of her head down, making sure that there were no open wounds anywhere on her.

"Where's Rick?" Michonne's voice was quiet as she finally asked the question, holding out the bottle in Carl's direction and watching him start to try to get the little girl interested in food, which was a heartbreaking thing to watch in itself.

"Herd cut us off. We had to hide Tyreese and run here. Rick followed us to know the direction and then went back for Ty." Carol's voice was hoarse as she shifted forward, her legs tucking about Daryl, resting on either side of him there, just keeping him as close as she could get him now that he was back, now that he had saved her again. "I can take you back to him."

"No you can't." Daryl's voice broke in, his arms wrapping her closer to himself again. "You can't be out there walking around after that kind of close call. You're gonna sit here and let the shock wear off till your focus is back." His hands rolled up her back there, holding her tightly in his grasp. "You done enough girl, you took down a hell of a lot of them one handed to keep the kids safe, you let us do this."

"Don't leave." Her gaze flicking back up to him, feeling more vulnerable and afraid than she wanted to admit, but one of their doors were gone, this wasn't as safe as before, and she couldn't take that pressure again right off.

"I ain't goin' nowhere. Promise." His gaze flicked to Michonne and she nodded, looking to Carl.

"I can find your dad, I won't be long, you keep working on her, even if you can only get a swallow here or there... it'll add up, just keep trying." She offered him a soft smile and they nodded to one another before Michonne turned to Daryl and Carol with a gentle nod. "I won't stay out long. I'll bring them back."

Michonne disappeared into the woods again and Daryl pulled himself up onto the truck beside her to tug her against himself and hold her, his chin resting on the top of her head as he watched Carl trying to feed Judith, who seemed determined not to eat now. They kept silent as the boy pleaded with his sister. Eventually Mika worked her way over to Carol and tucked herself into Carol's arms, burrowed against the woman and holding her tightly as well.

Mika winced as Carol held her against herself again and it brought Carol's mind back to when she had strapped Judith against her and Carol sat up a little bit there, looking at the little girl. "Mika, can I look at your stomach?" She watched the little girl's eyes go wide and saw the tremble in her lips, but saw her nod softly. "Okay... just - I'll be careful, I'll be gentle. I just need to look."

Carol's hands reached down to softly pry up Mika's shirt and she saw Mika's body tense as the sunlight illuminated the sweet little girl's torso.

"Oh my god..."

"What the hell?"

Carol's fingers softly reached to trace over the dark bruises and scars the crossed over her skin and Carol swallowed back a sob as she took in the sight, feeling the anger rising like bile in her throat, feeling Mika continue to tremble there under her fingers.

"Mika baby, what happened? Who hurt you?" Carol's eyes lifted up to Mika's protective and broken there. It brought her back to the first time she had seen Ed's fist clench and saw him step towards Sophia before she stepped in. Carol felt the guilt closing in about her for not being there to stop Mika from this pain of something so brutal and traumatizing. Mika's eyes were full of tears and her mouth opened and closed a couple times before she could force out any kind of sound for an answer. An answer that would ripple more pain through Carol than she was ready to take on.

"Lizzie."


	15. Yesterdays and Tomorrows

_Warning for this chapter: **Character Deaths**_

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><p><em>"What are you doing?"<em>

_"She won't stop crying and it's bothering them." Lizzie's eyes lifted up to bore into Mika's, her hand planted over Judith's mouth and nose, holding tightly, hand straining a bit from the amount of pressure she was applying._

_"Let go! You're gonna hurt her!" Mika's hands reached out towards Judith as her sister pulled the baby out of her reach._

_"Shut up, she's fine." Lizzie's eyes were locked down on the infant as she wriggled. "She'd be better off anyways, easier to feed, if she were like them. And I would be her friend so she wouldn't be lonely like the rest of them too."_

_"Lizzie let go!" Mika's hands clamped her arm and tugged as hard as she could, desperate. "Tyreese! Mr. Tyreese!" Calling over her shoulder for help._

_"Shut up!" Lizzie let go of Judith and let the baby fall to the ground, making her cries louder from the fear more than anything else. "You think you're so much better than them, but you're just stupid. You're a bully. You're all bullies." Lizzie shoved Mika as roughly as she could, all her strength behind it._

_"Lizzie..."_

_"No!" Lizzie pulled out her knife and walked towards Mika. "You're a bully and bullies need to be taught lessons. Mama said bullies have to be shown that they're wrong. You're wrong, Mika." She dove forward a bit, moving to pull out the knife Carol had given her at the prison and dove towards Mika, slashing it out eagerly. "You're wrong and you need to be shown." Slicing into the soft skin over her stomach a bit._

_"Mr. Tyreese!" The panic and pain in her voice boiled over as her hands lifted to shove at Lizzie's hands, desperate as her older sister knocked her over. "Lizzie stop! Let me go! Tyreese!" Her voice was shrill and Judith's cries intensified, sitting and reaching her arms up, reaching for comfort from someone, anyone, at the commotion going on beside her. "Lizzie!" The panic rising as she heard the groans rounding the corner, following the sound of the scuffle and cries. Her hand tightened on Lizzie's wrist, clutching it and twisting, trying to push it away from herself more, sobbing under her older sister, feeling her fists hitting against her skin._

_"Let go of my hand. You're hurting me! Stop hurting me! You gotta learn." Another smack, another tug on the knife. "Stop! Mika..."_

_"Lizzie!" Tyreese's voice rang out finally as he made it back into the clearing, freezing in fear as his eyes caught on the Walkers stumbling towards them and he rose his gun to take out the one closest to baby Judith, reaching out for her, and when he turned the gun to the one closest to the older girl, the sounds of the screaming echoed through the air and hit him hard enough to make him physically stumble back, watching as the walker took a chunk out of Lizzie's neck, hands grasping and pulling her to get her closer. His finger stuck on the trigger and he just stood there in shock and horror._

_Mika moved quickly to slide out from under her sister, grabbing the knife that Lizzie had been using on her and she quickly stabbed her sister's attacker and with trembling hands as Lizzie begged her not to - pleaded with her baby sister to just let her change finally - little Mika lunged forward and pressed the knife into the side of her sister's head, feeling the skin of her temple and the tickle of the hair as it went in to the hilt and her older sister fell. She didn't go back for the knife, just rushed over to scoop up Judith and run back for Tyreese. The little girl did not stop running until she was well away from the little clearing they had been standing in, hidden among the trees with a trembling sobbing Judith in her arms, feeling her own chest shuddering with the power of her own sobs as well, sinking to her knees._

_"Sorry Lizzie... I'm sorry Lizzie"_

Carol held Mika in her arms, stroking her hair as the sobs gave way to deep and even breaths and Mika finally succumbed to an exhausted, restless sleep. Only once she was certain that the little girl was actually out did she allow the tears to enter her own eyes and she twisted her head to burrow down into the nape of Daryl's neck, allowing a few of her own strangled sobs to escape her throat, her arms clutching the girl to her chest. "I should have been there."

"You couldn't. You didn't know where they were." Daryl's voice was soft. "You didn't know they were out there to be protected."

"I should have. I gave up. I just -" Shaking her head as she pulled back, her eyes meeting his in that moment, the tears glistening there brightly, her hands clutching to his shirt with an uncontrollable tremble to them. "They were my responsibility and I let them down. I promised... I should have - Daryl..."

She caved against him once more and Daryl sighed, deciding not to try to comfort her over it anymore, it would do no good, he just placed soft kisses on top of her head and pulled her tightly to himself and let her cry about it in her safe place, tucked against him, for as long as she needed him to hold her and be there for her. They were still tucked together as he heard the ruffle of the foliage and saw Rick and Michonne making their way back into the garage from the broken bay door, without Tyreese. He just held Carol tighter, watching the way Rick just looked away, loaded down with guilt as he walked over to take Judith from Carl to take over feeding her. Michonne made her way to Carol and Daryl, shaking her head slowly, gaze darting around the area.

"He didn't make it back to Tyreese in time. He'd been found. He was - trying to put down the group that was... feeding off of him. Said he owed him because of Judy." Her voice soft as her fingers rolled over the katana's handle, her eyes flashing back to Rick, obviously wanting to be near him now as he suffered through his guilt.

"We'll spend the night inside the cars, two on watch at all times." Daryl took charge there, nodding to her. "Carol and I will take first watch, you and Rick can take second? When it's time." His fingers stroked over Carol's arm there, his head bending down to kiss her temple again and just hold her through the worst of it. He knew that the both of them were thinking about Sophia and the guilt resurfaced all over again as he held her tightly, wishing there were anyplace else he could be now. He wanted to go on a hunt, he wanted to go out looking for people, he wanted to do_something_ but he knew that wasn't an option right now, he was able bodied and they needed him here. Carol needed him here, in the most rewarding and suffocating way.

"We have to -" Carol's voice broke through the silence finally, stronger than he had expected it to sound, and he realized that she had somehow seemed to managed to sap into his strength there. "-Terminus. I know it's dangerous but... we don't have a choice. We aren't strong enough to wait to go in." Her gaze moved up to Daryl and saw the doubt and fear in his eyes, and then she twisted to look towards Carl, Rick, and Michonne across the way. "We need something. There's not enough of us to survive without taking the chance."

Judith had finally eaten the full bottle and was sleeping from the exhaustion of the excursion in her father's arms. Rick bounced her up and down a few times as he thought, finally nodding his head. "Yeah... I agree. Tomorrow. Tomorrow we go to Terminus."

"Tomorrow." Daryl's voice was quiet, his gaze far away, but he nodded his head in agreement, holding Carol tighter as his stomach twisted up in knots with a feeling he just couldn't push away. "Tomorrow."

Carol's lips brushed over the hollow of his throat before she snuggled into his chest. "Tomorrow."


	16. Getting There

Again, another back-to-back chapter update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Reviews make me happy and inspire more writing, faster, just saying. ;) But I do appreciate the favorites and follows that I have been getting along the way.

Disclaimer: I do not own TWD.

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><p>I'm fine Daryl." The sun was high in the sky, beating down on them as they walked the tracks, following the signs that pointed their way towards Terminus, sanctuary for all. Maybe. The fear was mounting the closer that they got to the star that marked their destination. Carol's arm was sore and the pain was really getting to her, but she was trying to stay strong as they moved along the tracks. Daryl's eyes had been boring into her from behind as he took up the backof the group, unwilling to have Carol out of his sight, or risk her being at the very front of the group in her pained state.<p>

Mika had thankfully slept all night after her exhaustion of reliving the horrors she had suffered, and when she had awoken and learned of Tyreese's fate, she had simply nodded in sadness, but there weren't any tears left in her little body at that time. She had spent the day of walking glued to Carol's side, her hand clutching Carol's tightly, as if afraid that letting go would mean losing her as well. It meant that Carol had to carry all of her extra weight on her bad shoulder, not that she let on that it was causing any pain. Mika needed anything that Carol could give her now, and none of the guilt of knowing that it caused any kind of physical discomfort.

"Didn't say you weren't." His voice was quiet, looking over their group. "Just... not sure about all of this now. I mean - even if the signs were real-" His voice trailing off there and he reached out to grasp her good arm, above Mika's grasping hand. "Carol-"

"We made the decision already Daryl." But she stopped to turn back to look at him with a heavy sigh. "We determined that we couldn't afford not to take the chance. We need numbers and we need walls."

"These people made signs leading to a stronghold. Even if they were trying to be a sanctuary - whosta say that they weren't overrun by someone like the good ol' governor? We gotta think that we might just be runnin' into a trap here."

"Even if we are-" Carol twisted around again, looking back at him, her voice soft, nodding to show him that she understood what he was trying to get across to her. "We don't look like an intimidating group so much now. They could have taken down the signs, but they're still up. That means we can probably get behind those walls to some semblance of safety, get a read on if anyone else from the prison made it and headed that way, and at least stay there until we've healed up some. Physically and emotionally. It doesn't have to be paradise, it just has to be a stopping point. A rest."

"I don't feel right 'bout this place." But he stepped forward, nodding his head once. "You just stay close to me when we get there. The both of you, okay?" Reaching down in that moment to softly chuck Mika's chin with his thumb and then smoothing his hand back over her hair, making note that they should find a stream or something soon to wash the girl up in, she looked much worse for the wear and he knew that she had to feel all of that grime sinking into her skin.

"Hey-" Carl's voice broke through the moment as the boy jogged back to the small group, nodding back the way he had come from. "Dad said we're only about an hour's walk - maybe two, from Terminus. There's a house he spotted just off the tracks a ways, into the woods. It's not big, but we could clear it and spend the evening there and get rested up before we complete the rest of the trip. Judy shouldn't be out in the sun much longer.

The house wasn't much to look at, it was little more than a shack, but it was a stalling tactic with four walls that would be safer than the refuge that they had taken the night before. They silently veered off the tracks, Daryl readying his bow and falling ahead of the girls as he listened for sounds of approaching walkers or people. Michonne and Rick had already started the sweep, Carl poised with Judith outside of the house as he waited, looking annoyed to be relegated to babysitter again and Carol nodded for Daryl to join the two other adults to cover them more completely in the sweep.

"Carl, why don't you let Mika hold Judith?" Her voice soft as she lightly pushed the little girl in their direction, leaning to press a kiss on top of her head softly. "That way you have better access to your weapon, you're the better shot." It was a way to give both children a more profound sense of worth here. Mika could hold the baby and keep her safe, and Carl could be more at the ready to defend them against anything coming at them. It was also legitimately for their protection, a more thought-out plan and the sincerity behind it had Carl handing off his baby sister with a stern look at Mika.

"You stay down, and behind us. You keep her safe." His voice wavered a bit with the strength of his emotions still surrounding the state that his sister had come back in, but they all had their jobs to do, and Carl wasn't afraid of his, planting himself there beside the girls, guns out and aimed towards the woods.

It was a solid ten minutes before they came back out of the house, dragging a couple walkers out with fresh holes matching Daryl's custom bolts to take them down. Carl took Judith back and Mika moved back over to grasp Carol's hand tightly in her own, following their lead back inside the building. Carol stood back as the men took to barricading the door with a beaten up couch, looking around the building with a soft sigh, pushing over to the cupboards to start scavenging around, letting Mika cling to her leg, rather than her hand as she searched for something to eat. She found some canned peaches, and not much else, but she set them out on the table, digging in a backpack for the vitamins that Daryl and Michonne had brought back with them for their last run, making note of their need to get more water soon.

In the last drawer she checked she found a bottle and pulled it out, setting it up on the counter top with a soft sigh, twisting around to notice the group coming in, gesturing to the table. "That's as good a dinner as we're gonna find here." Carol dipped down, urging Mika towards the table and one of the cans of peaches, leaning back as Daryl crossed back to her side. "Everyone should eat something and then we'll settle down to sleep as much as we can in shifts. If we start now, we get as much sleep between us as possible."

"That sounds like a plan." Michonne nodded, shifting over to take a can for herself, digging in hungrily as she looked about the group. "Carl, eat."

"Here." Carol reached for the bottle of whiskey and held out towards Daryl in an offering. "I found this too, if you're interested."

"I'm interested." Daryl took the bottle from her hands and set it on the table to slip it towards Rick with a nod. "Here, this should quench your thirst. Save a little."

"Can't make promises." It was clearly a joke, but all the same, Rick opened the bottle and took a pull, holding it out towards Michonne after. "No one gets drunk. We gotta be clear enough to face whatever may come at us."

"Uh huh." The brush-off tone in Daryl's voice was clear and he moved to kneel by Mika's side. "Carol an I gonna go catch first sleep Little Bit. There's some books and puzzles in the living room. You come get us if you need somethin', k?" He watched Mika's slow nod as she ate, her eyes flashing between them, but she didn't protest, just taking another bite of her peaches. "We'll be up soon, an Carol'll read ya a little somethin' fore you turn in for the night."

It was a sight, to be sure. He was gentle with her, caring, even though he'd never shown a particular interest in any of the children at the prison before. It was like he was a natural and Carol had to grasp his arm tightly in her hand, leaning her head down against his shoulder as she followed his lead up the staircase towards the bedroom to rest before it was their turn to take guard of the house. She didn't speak again until the door clicked shut behind them.

"You're so good with her."

"Kids had it tough." He didn't look at her, eyes averted as he toed off his boots with a shrug, setting his crossbow down against the wall, unloading his weapons off to the bedside table. "Can't exactly baby her through it, she's gotta learn from it and grow from it, same as the rest of us, so she don't end up..." His voice trailed off painfully and he felt her good arm wrapping about his waist from behind, her face pressing into his back. "But she's still a kid. An' you love her." His hand reached down to squeeze hers before he twisted and leaned to face her, lips hovering above hers. "And I love you."

"I love you too." She moved onto her toes, head tilting up and her lips softly brushed back against his, holding him with a soft moan against his lips. Though it devolved into a groan as he broke it again. "Daryl..." Her protest cut short as she felt his hand slipping under the hem of her shirt, his fingertips brushing the skin softly, dragging out a gasp as her body twisted a bit towards his touch. "We're..."

"Look, I know it ain't that romantic. And I know your arm is broke and you can't use it but... think is, I'm human and you are too and even though I'm gonna keep you safe, I'm scared as hell an I almost lost you twice already. I just... Carol -" He didn't know how to plead his case without sounding like he had abandoned all hope for surviving Terminus. He struggled trying to find a way until he felt her finger press to his lips.

"I did promise... four walls. We got 'em. Come here." She tugged on his arm and backed up towards the bed, slowly moving to sit down and crawl up over it, a bit of a stumble as she struggled with the logistics, but she kept her eyes on his and nodded again. "Daryl... come here."

Daryl took a moment, just watching her before he finally moved over to the bed, climbing on after her. "Won't hurt you?"

"No." A gentle smile crossing her face as she reached out, took his hand and lead it over to run over her side, curling up into his touch with a soft and low moan. "You won't hurt me." Her lips captured his once more and together they felt their way through a minefield of nerves and challenges into something beautiful and right.


End file.
